OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declined an invitation to testify Wednesday at a Senate subcommittee hearing on the risks of rogue artificial intelligence, according to Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who chairs the panel.
Hawley said at the hearing that Altman "turned us down." The Missouri Republican sent Altman a letter on Sept. 25 requesting his presence to assist the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee's investigation into recent rogue AI incidents involving OpenAI models.
"I think that's unfortunate because I think the American people deserve to know exactly what's going on at all of these companies," Hawley said. "And to give us the sort of transparency that I think is needed for not just comfort, but to have an understanding of what these companies — that are the most powerful companies in the world — are doing right now with the most powerful technology ever known to man."
An OpenAI spokesperson said Altman received the invitation on Friday, five days before the hearing. Altman appeared Tuesday at the company's annual DevDay developer conference in San Francisco while other OpenAI officials, including President Greg Brockman, were in Washington meeting with President Donald Trump.
The spokesperson said OpenAI is "deeply engaged with Congress on federal policies to advance AI safety, including through dozens of meetings in recent weeks with members of both parties in both chambers." The company said it looks forward to continuing to work with Hawley and other members of Congress on federal AI safety legislation.
Hawley's subcommittee has been investigating what it describes as rogue AI incidents involving OpenAI's models. The hearing proceeded Wednesday without the company's chief executive present.
The invitation to Altman came as Congress weighs a growing stack of proposals to regulate artificial intelligence development, including measures on model safety testing and transparency requirements for leading AI firms. OpenAI and other major AI developers have lobbied against what they call overly prescriptive rules while publicly supporting narrower safety standards.
Altman has testified before Congress previously, including at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing in May 2023, when he told lawmakers that AI could cause "significant harm" and called for regulation of the technology. He has since appeared at multiple Capitol Hill meetings with lawmakers from both parties.
